Security Architecture For A Process Control Platform Executing Applications

ABSTRACT

A security component within a supervisory process control and manufacturing information system comprising a set of user roles corresponding to different types of users within the information system, a set of security groups defining a set of security permissions with regard to a set of objects, wherein each security group includes an access definition relating the security permissions to at least one of the set of user roles, and a set of user accounts assigned to at least one of the defined roles thereby indirectly defining access rights with regard to the set of objects having restricted access within the system. The security permissions within the supervisory process control and manufacturing information system are assigned at an object attribute level.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/179,095 filed Jun. 24, 2002, entitled “A Security Architecture for a Process Control Platform Executing Applications,” which claims priority to U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/300,363 filed Jun. 22, 2001, entitled “A Hierarchical Object-based Architecture for Executing Applications on a Process Control Platform” and to U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/300,500, filed Jun. 22, 2001, entitled “A Security Architecture for a Process Control Platform Executing Applications.” The contents of the aforementioned patent applications are expressly incorporated herein by reference in their entirety including the contents and teachings of any references contained therein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to the field of computerized process control networks. More particularly, the present invention relates to a security architecture for a platform executing supervisory process control applications.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Significant advances in industrial process control technology have vastly improved all aspects of factory and plant operation. Before the introduction of today's modern industrial process control systems, industrial processes were operated/controlled by humans and rudimentary mechanical controls. As a consequence, the complexity and degree of control over a process was limited by the speed with which one or more people could ascertain a present status of various process state variables, compare the current status to a desired operating level, calculate a corrective action (if needed), and implement a change to a control point to affect a change to a state variable.

Improvements to process control technology have enabled vastly larger and more complex industrial processes to be controlled via programmed control processors. Control processors execute control programs that read process status variables, execute control algorithms based upon the status variable data and desired set point information to render output values for the control points in industrial processes. Such control processors and programs support a substantially self-running industrial process (once set points are established).

Notwithstanding the ability of industrial processes to operate under the control of programmed process controllers at previously established set points without intervention, supervisory control and monitoring of control processors and their associated processes is desirable. Such oversight is provided by both humans and higher-level control programs at an application/human interface layer of a multilevel process control network. Such oversight is generally desired to verify proper execution of the controlled process under the lower-level process controllers and to configure the set points of the controlled process.

Manufacturing/process control systems are modified due to changes in the process control devices and the processes themselves. Thus, it is important in such instances to provide a means for quickly configuring/re-configuring without touching unchanged portions of the system. It is also important to provide a means for making such changes while minimizing disruptions to the operation of the industrial process—e.g., minimizing the time that the process stands idle.

In view of the interest and desirability to continually improve supervisory process control and manufacturing information systems, there is a strong desire to not be locked into a single architecture for a supervisory process control and manufacturing information system. Process control systems change and it is desirable to have higher-level systems that adapt to such changes regardless of their magnitude. Furthermore, less flexible supervisory process control and manufacturing information system offerings require designers of process control installations to take into consideration the long-term requirements of an application because of the relative inflexibility of the application to modifications once it is installed.

However, such application inflexibility is undesirable in the conservative industrial control systems market. The process control industry tends to pilot, and often the designers are not fully aware of the full extent and form of the automation that will ultimately be incorporated in a final installation. Later in the life of a plant, when new functionality is added the new control system components leverage or merge existing systems. In such instances where the process control system has changed significantly, there are advantages to incorporating a different architecture into the installed supervisory process control application.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A security component within a supervisory process control and manufacturing information system comprising a set of user roles corresponding to different types of users within the information system, a set of security groups defining a set of security permissions with regard to a set of objects, wherein each security group includes an access definition relating the security permissions to at least one of the set of user roles, and a set of user accounts assigned to at least one of the defined roles thereby indirectly defining access rights with regard to the set of objects having restricted access within the system. The security permissions within the supervisory process control and manufacturing information system are assigned at an object attribute level.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The appended claims set forth the features of the present invention with particularity. The invention, together with its objects and advantages, may be best understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary supervisory process control network including a multi-layered supervisory process control and manufacturing information application;

FIG. 2 depicts a multi-tiered object arrangement for an application;

FIG. 3 depicts a set of fields associated with a common portion for the objects comprising the application;

FIG. 4 depicts a set of fields associated with a platform-specific portion of a platform object;

FIG. 5 depicts a set of fields associated with an engine object;

FIG. 6 depicts a set of fields associated with a scheduler object;

FIG. 7 depicts a set of fields associated with an exemplary application object;

FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram summarizing a set of steps performed to start up a multi-layered application embodying the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram summarizing a set of steps for moving an object to another engine in a network comprising multiple application engines;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram depicting controlled components of a simple plant process;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram depicting the simple plant process components logically grouped into areas.

FIG. 12 is a hierarchical tree structure depicting the grouping of areas in the plant arrangement of FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a hierarchical tree structure representing the derivation relationships of objects of a supervisory process control application associated with the plant process depicted in FIG. 10;

FIG. 14 a is a schematic drawing of a mixer vessel portion of the plant process depicted in FIG. 10;

FIG. 14 b is a hierarchical model view depicting the containment relationship of a MixerVessel compound application object template corresponding to the mixer vessel depicted in FIG. 14;

FIG. 15 is a hierarchical tree structure representing a derivation structure for portions of the application associated with the hardware of a system (e.g., platforms, engines, and device integration objects);

FIG. 16 is a hierarchical tree structure presenting a model view of application object arrangement including the areas with which the application objects are associated;

FIG. 17 is a hierarchical tree structure presenting a deployment view of the application to a set of computer devices represented by identified platform objects at the top level of the hierarchy;

FIG. 18 is a sequence diagram depicting one embodiment of a security model;

FIG. 19 is a sequence diagram of the security classification of an attribute;

FIG. 20 is a sequence diagram of a method of writing to an attribute;

FIG. 21 is an security model for a process control platform highlighting user roles; and

FIG. 22 is a schematic diagram of a method to configure a security model for a process control platform.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENT

In view of the shortcomings of known supervisory process control applications with regard to adapting to changed process control system architectures, an internationalized supervisory process control and manufacturing information system application architecture is described that enables the system framework to be easily designed and altered for customized use in different languages. In accordance with the disclosed layered application architecture, an application object is hosted by an engine. The engine is hosted by a platform that corresponds to, for example, a personal computer with infrastructure software. The intermediate engine layer abstracts the application object from the platform architecture. Thus, location within a physical system containing the application object need not be addressed by the application object.

One aspect of the disclosed supervisory process control and manufacturing information application is an object hierarchy that frees high-level application objects of design constraints associated with the computing system hardware upon which the application objects reside. In particular, the objects associated with a supervisory process control application environment are arranged on physical computing devices in a hierarchy comprising a plurality of layers. Application objects execute at an application layer. The application objects are hosted by an engine object at a middle layer. The engine objects are hosted by a platform object that resides at the lowest of the three layers. Each platform object is launched by a bootstrap object at yet an even lower layer. The platform object corresponds a physical computing system (including an operating system) upon which application and engine objects execute. Thus, application objects need only establish a proper, standardized, relationship to a hosting application engine object. Aspects of the supervisory control and manufacturing information system relating to physical computing devices and their operating systems are handled by the engine and platform object configuration. The physical topology of the system and the application's physical location is transparent to the operation of the application objects.

The disclosed layered hosting arrangement of object enables a supervisory process control application to be modeled independently of the computing hardware and supervisory control network topology, upon which the application executes. Isolating the application model from the physical deployment configuration enables migrating applications to new/different computing systems as the need arises and to keep up with underlying hardware changes over the course of the life of the application. Such capabilities are especially beneficial in the area of process control and manufacturing information systems where pilot installations are used to provide proof of concept and then the application grows as, and when, it is justified.

The application model includes groupings of application objects within logical containers referred to as “areas.” All application objects within a same area must be deployed upon a same application engine according to a software deployment scheme. However, the layered application architecture enables binding an application model to a particular deployment model at a late stage in development. Thus, an abstract “area” need not be associated with a particular engine until a developer is ready to deploy and execute a supervisory-level system.

The security model for a supervisory control and manufacturing information system is independent of the physical hardware and the logical organization of the AutomationObject Model, and thus a supervisory process control and manufacturing information system architect need not bind security to a particular physical system component until the application modules have been fully developed. The late binding of security to particular components of a system enables a developer to determine the authorization of a particular system based upon the configured application objects, and the developer binds security based upon the functionality of the application objects deployed upon particular computing nodes.

Furthermore, disassociating the functionality (business logic) provided by the application objects from the computer systems upon which the execute enables presenting the defined system/software configuration according to a plurality of views/models. A “plant centric” application model enables a system developer to build an application model in a logical way. The system developer defines the individual devices and functions as distinct entities within a plant. All associated functionality is contained in each object. After defining the individual objects within the plant, the user configures (assembles) associations between the objects.

The application model is a logical build of the plant relative to physical areas of the plant and the equipment and functions within the physical areas. The engineer configures the behavior and association between these plant area entities. The supervisory process control and manufacturing information system provides a configuration view of the application model depicting a containment hierarchy with relation to: the areas and equipment, and the equipment itself.

The application model supports containing objects within objects, and containment can be specified in a template. Containment facilitates leveraging the work of different engineers at different levels of development of a supervisory process control and manufacturing information application. A particular technician can define the details for a particular low-level device. Thereafter another engineer defines a unit or other device in the application that contains one or more instances of the particular low-level device.

The application model also supports propagating changes through inheritance. Thus, child objects inherit changes to a referenced parent template definition.

After a developer specifies the functionality of a process control and manufacturing information application, the application is deployed across potentially many physical computing systems. In an embodiment of the invention disclosed herein, a second type of system view, referred to as a deployment model, enables a user to configure physical PCs and devices with regard to an application. The deployment model defines: PCs and engine types that run on the platforms, and external device integration. A user defines the areas that will run on particular engines, thereby determining where the particular application software will be physically executed. The supervisory process control and manufacturing information system provides a configuration view of a deployment model showing the hierarchy with physical PCs, and the areas and application objects running on the physical PCs. After a developer designates/confirms the deployment model, the application objects and engine objects are deployed on the physical computing devices according to the deployment model.

Having summarized generally the new architecture for a supervisory process control and manufacturing information system facilitating re-configuring (re-architecting) the system, attention is directed to FIG. 1, comprising an illustrative example of a system incorporating an application architecture embodying the present invention. A first application server personal computer (PC) 100 and a second application server PC 102 collectively and cooperatively execute a distributed multi-layered supervisory process control and manufacturing information application comprising a first portion 104 and second portion 106. The application portions 104 and 106 include device integration application objects PLC1Network and PLC1, and PLC2Network and PLC2, respectively. The PLCxNetwork device integration objects facilitate configuration of a data access server (e.g., OPC DAServers 116 and 118). The PLC1 and PLC2 device integration objects, operating as OPC clients, access data locations within the buffers of the OPC DAServers 116 and 118. The data access servers 116 and 118 and the device integration objects cooperatively import and buffer data from external process control components such as PLCs or other field devices. The data buffers are accessed by a variety of application objects 105 and 107 executing upon the personal computers 100 and 102. Examples of application objects include, by way of example, discrete devices, analog devices, field references, etc.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, application engines host the application objects (via a logical grouping object referred to herein as an “area”. The engines are in turn hosted by platform objects at the next lower level of the supervisory process control and manufacturing information application. The application portions 104 and 106 are, in turn hosted by generic bootstrap components 108 and 110. All of the aforementioned components are described herein below with reference to FIG. 2.

In the exemplary system embodying the present invention, the multi-layered application comprising portions 104 and 106 is communicatively linked to a controlled process. In particular, the first application server personal computer 100 is communicatively coupled to a first programmable logic controller 112, and the second application server personal computer 102 is communicatively coupled to a second programmable logic controller 114. It is noted that the depicted connections from the PCs 100 and 102 to the PLCs 112 and 114 represent logical connections. Such logical connections correspond to both direct and indirect physical communication links. For example, in a particular embodiment, the PLC 112 and PLC 114 comprise nodes on an Ethernet LAN to which the personal computers 100 and 104 are also connected. In other embodiments, the PLCs 112 and 114 are linked directly to physical communication ports on the PCs 100 and 102.

In the illustrative embodiment set forth in FIG. 1, the PCs 100 and 102 execute data access servers 116 and 118 respectively. The data access servers 116 and 118 obtain/extract process information rendered by the PLC's 112 and 114 and provide the process information to application objects (e.g., PLC1Network, PLC1, PLC2Network, PLC2) of the application comprising portions 104 and 106. The data access servers 116 and 118 are, by way of example, OPC Servers. However, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate the wide variety of custom and standardized data formats/protocols that are potentially carried out by the data access servers 116 and 118. Furthermore, the exemplary application objects, through connections to the data access servers 116 and 118, represent a PLC network and the operation of the PLC itself. However, the application objects comprise a virtually limitless spectrum of classes of executable objects that perform desired supervisory control and data acquisition/integration functions in the context of the supervisory process control and manufacturing information application.

The supervisory process control and management information application is augmented, for example, by a configuration personal computer 120 that executes a database (e.g., SQL) server 122 that maintains a supervisory process control and management information application configuration database 124 for the application objects and other related information including templates from which the application objects are rendered. The configuration database 124 also includes a global name table 125 that facilitates binding location independent object names to location-derived handles facilitating routing messages between objects within the system depicted in FIG. 1. The configuration PC 120 and associated database server 122 support: administrative monitoring for a multi-user environment, revision history management, centralized license management, centralized object deployment including deployment and installation of new objects and their associated software, maintenance of the global name table 125, and importing/exporting object templates and instances.

Actual configuration of the applications is carried out via an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) 127 that communicates with the database server 122 via distributed component object model (DCOM) protocols. The IDE is a utility from which application objects are configured and deployed to the application server PCs 100 and 102. Developers of a supervisory process control and manufacturing information application, through the IDE, carry out a wide variety of system design functions including: importing new object and template types, configuring new templates from existing templates, defining new application objects, and deploying the application objects to the host application engines (AppEngine1 or AppEngine2 in FIG. 1) on the application server PCs 100 and 102.

The exemplary supervisory control network environment depicted in FIG. 1, also includes a set of operator stations 130, 132, and 134 that provide a view into a process or portion thereof, monitored/controlled by the supervisory process control and management information application installed and executing as a set of layered objects upon the PCs 100 and 102. A RawMaterial PC 130 provides a representative view enabling monitoring a raw materials area of a supervised industrial process. A ProductionPC 132 presents a representative view of a production portion of the supervised industrial process. A FinishedProductPC 134 provides a representative view of an area of a production facility associated with finished product. Each one of the operator stations 130, 132, and 134 includes a bootstrap host for each of the particular operator station platforms. Each one of the operator stations 130, 132, and 134 includes a view engine that process graphics information to render a graphical depiction of the observed industrial process or portion thereof.

It is noted that the system depicted in FIG. 1 and described hereinabove is merely an example of a multi-layered hierarchical architecture for a supervisory process control and manufacturing information system. The present invention is not limited to the particular disclosed application/system. For example it is contemplated that the multi-layered application approach is applicable, at a lower control level, to a distributed control system (DCS) application or a programmable logic controller (PLC) application. In these cases specific platform and application engine objects are developed for the unique computing hardware within the DCS or PLC. It is further noted that FIG. 1 is presented as a logical view of the interrelations between installed software and physical computing hardware and is not intended to designate any particular network topology. Rather the present invention is suitable for a virtually any network topology. In fact, the present invention is applicable to a control application running on a single computer system linked to a controlled process.

Turning now to FIG. 2, a class diagram depicts the hierarchical arrangement of layered software associated with a computer executing at least of portion of a supervisory process control and manufacturing information application. Each computer executes an operating system 200, such as MICROSOFT's WINDOWS at a lowest level of the hierarchy. The operating system 200, hosts a bootstrap object 202. The bootstrap object 202 is loaded onto a computer and activated in association with startup procedures executed by the operating system 200. As the host of a platform class object 204, the bootstrap object 202 must be activated before initiating operation of the platform class object 204. The bootstrap object 202 starts and stops the platform class object. The bootstrap object 202 also renders services utilized by the platform class object 204 to start and stop one or more engine objects 206 hosted by the platform class object 204.

The platform class object 204 is host to one or more engine objects 206. In an embodiment of the invention, the platform class object 204 represents, to the one or more engine objects 206, a computer executing a particular operating system. The platform class object 204 maintains a list of the engine objects 206 deployed on the platform class object 204, starts and stops the engine objects 206, and restarts the engine objects 206 if they crash. The platform class object 204 monitors the running state of the engine objects 206 and publishes the state information to clients. The platform class object 204 includes a system management console diagnostic utility that enables performing diagnostic and administrative tasks on the computer system executing the platform class object 204. The platform class object 204 also provides alarms to a distributed alarm subsystem.

The engine objects 206 host a set of application objects 210 that implement supervisory process control and/or manufacturing information acquisition functions associated with an application. The engine objects 206 initiate startup of all application objects 210. The engine objects 206 also schedule execution of the application objects 210 with regard to one another with the help of a scheduler object. Engines register application objects with a scheduler for execution. The scheduler executes the application objects relative to other application objects based upon the configuration specified by an engine. The engine objects 206 monitor the operation of the application objects 210 and place malfunctioning ones in a quarantined state. The engine objects 206 support check pointing by saving/restoring changes to a runtime application made by automation objects to a configuration file. The engine objects 206 maintain a name binding service that bind attribute references (e.g., tank1.value.pv) to a proper one of the application objects 210.

The engine objects 206 ultimately control how execution of application objects will occur. However, once the engine objects 206 determine execution scheduling for application objects 210, the real-time scheduling of their execution is controlled by a scheduler 208. The scheduler supports an interface containing the methods RegisterAutomationObject( ) and UnregisterAutomationObject( ) enabling engine objects 206 to add/remove particular application objects to/from the schedulers list of scheduled operations.

The application objects 210 include a wide variety of objects that execute business logic facilitating carrying out a particular process control operation (e.g., turning a pump on, actuating a valve), and/or information gathering/management function (e.g., raising an alarm based upon a received field device output signal value) in the context of, for example, an industrial process control system. Examples of application objects include: analog input, discrete device, and PID loop. A class of application objects 210, act upon data supplied by process control systems, such as PLCs, via device integration objects (e.g., OPC DAServer 118). The function of the integration objects is to provide a bridge between process control/manufacturing information sources and the supervisory process control and manufacturing information application.

The application objects 210, in an exemplary embodiment, include an application interface accessed by engine objects and schedulers. The engine objects access the application object interface to: initialize an application object, startup an application object, and shutdown an application object. The schedulers use the application object interface to initiate a scheduled execution of the application object.

Having described the primary components of the hierarchically arranged supervisory process control and manufacturing information application, attention is now directed to FIGS. 3-7 that identify attributes of primitives that make up the above-described object structures. Turning first to FIG. 3 depicts a common object primitive definition. The common primitive is incorporated into all the application objects (i.e., platform, application engine, scheduler, application, etc.). A scripts attribute 300 is used to keep track of scripts that are associated with an application object. The scripts attribute 300 includes scripts inherited from templates as well as scripts created specifically for the particular object type. A UDA (user defined attribute) attribute 302 references inherited and new user defined attributes for an object. An alarm mode attribute 304 indicates whether an alarm is enabled and the extent to which it is enabled. A based on attribute 306 identifies a particular base template from which an object was derived. Attribute 308 stores a string identifying attribute names in an object. A contained name attribute 310 identifies the name assigned to an object within a container. For example, an object may correspond to a “level” contained within a “reactor” object. A deployed version attribute 312 stores an integer identifying a version for a deployed object. A derived from attribute 314 identifies the actual template from which an object was derived. The contents of the derived from attribute 314 differ from the contents of the based on attribute 306. The based on attribute 306 is the base template from which this object was derived from. The derived attribute 314 is the immediate template from which this object was created. For example for a hierarchy of templates as follows:

-   -   $DiscreteDevice     -   $Pump     -   Pump001

$DiscreteDevice is the base template from which a new template $Pump is derived. An instance Pump001 is created from the template $Pump. The attribute “derived from” for object Pump001 will be $Pump. The attribute “based on” for object Pump001 will be $DiscreteDevice.

A relative execution order attribute 316 identifies another object with which a present object has a relative execution order relation. In addition to identifying another object, attribute 316 identifies the relative order of execution of the objects (e.g., none, before, after, etc.). The relative execution order information is utilized to schedule execution of application objects. A hierarchical name attribute 318 stores a full name for an object including any of the containers of the object (e.g., Reactor1.level). An IsTemplate attribute 320 indicates whether the object is a template or an object instantiated from a template. An AlarmInhibit attribute 322 within an area or container object provides cutout functionality to inhibit alarms for all objects within an area or container. An alarm mode attribute 324 specifies the current alarm mode of an object. The mode is based upon the object's commanded mode if area and container are enabled. Otherwise, the most disabled state of the container or parent area applies. Alarm Mode Command attribute 326 specifies the object's currently commanded alarm mode.

The illustrative example of the present invention supports an object hierarchy. Objects specify such hierarchy in the context of a plant/model view in an area attribute 328 that specifies an area to which an object belongs. A container attribute 330 specifies a container that contains the object. As previously explained, a hosting relationship exists among various deployed objects. In particular, a platform hosts an engine, and an engine (via an area) hosts application objects. Thus, a host attribute 338 identifies an object's host.

A category attribute 332 specifies a class of objects with which the object is associated, thereby facilitating organizing objects according to local associations and/or functionality. The value is one of the categories named in a category enumeration attribute 334. An error attribute 336 identifies errors generated by the object. An InAlarm flag 340 stores a Boolean flag indicating whether an alarm exists in an object. The flag is true only if a Scan State flag 342 is true (the object is on scan) and the object's alarms are enabled. The scan state of an object is changed through a Scan State Command 344 that signals whether to take the object on/off scan.

A security group 346 enables designating a particular security group for the object to limit access/use of the object to particular classes of users. A description attribute 348 provides an area to store a short description of an object. A tag name attribute 350 specifies a unique tag for an object. A warnings attribute 352 lists any warnings rendered by an object.

Having described the common attributes of all objects described herein, a set of object type-specific attributes are described herein below beginning with attributes for a platform primitive with reference to FIG. 4. The attributes identified in FIG. 4 relate to supporting the object/engine/platform hosting hierarchy. While not identified in FIG. 4, a set of attributes are provided through the platform primitive enabling platform objects to monitor/report computer device statistics. Other attributes included in the exemplary platform primitive, but not included in FIG. 4, concern detecting and reporting alarms associated with computer device statistics and storing the statistics.

A RegisterEngine attribute 400 stores a command to register a new engine. The RegisterEngine attribute 400 is used at deployment time to register an engine with a host platform. A StartEngine attribute 402 stores a command to start a particular deployed engine on the platform. A StartHostedObjects attribute 404 stores a command passed to the platform to start all hosted engines that are start auto and start semi-auto type engines. A StopEngine attribute 406 stores a command to stop a particular deployed engine on the platform. An UnRegisterEngine attribute 308 stores a command to un-deploy a previously deployed engine on the platform. An Engines attribute 410 stores a list of all engines deployed on the platform. An EngineStates attribute 412 stores a list of the current operational states of all engine objects hosted by the platform.

FIG. 5 summarizes a set of attributes associated with an engine primitive. An external name attribute 500 stores a string used for external reference. An internal name attribute 502 stores a string used for internal reference. A reference count attribute 504 stores the number of objects referencing the engine object. When the number of references reaches zero, there are no clients, external to the engine, referencing any automation object attributes on the engine. This helps operators determine the impact (how many clients will be affected) of stopping the engine. An object attribute 506 is an array comprising a set of all objects hosted by the engine object. A startup type attribute 508 identifies how an engine object will be started (e.g., automatic, semi-automatic, manual). A CanGoOnscan attribute 510 indicates whether an engine object can be placed on-scan. A BindReference attribute 512 is a command used to resolve references (e.g., pump001.inlet.PV) to handles. These handles are used to locate objects at runtime by the messaging infrastructure. An AutoRestart attribute 514 stores a Boolean value indicating whether the engine object should be automatically restarted upon detection of a failure. A CheckpointFailedAlarm attribute 516 stores a value indicating whether a last attempt to checkpoint hosted objects had failed during a last attempt. An AlarmThrottleLimit attribute 518 stores a value, in alarms per second raised by an engine object before throttling of alarms generated by objects on the engine will occur. An EngineAlarmRate attribute 520 indicates the number of alarms registered on an engine during a last complete scan. An AlarmsThrottled attribute 522 indicates that an engine object throttled alarms during the last scan.

A set of attributes is provided to handle script execution. A ScriptExecuteTimout attribute 524 stores a time limit for a synchronous script to complete execution before an alarm is raised by an engine object. A ScriptStartupTimeout attribute 526 stores a time limit for a synchronous script to startup before an alarm will be raised. A ScriptShutdownTimout attribute 528 stores a time limit for a synchronous script to shutdown before an alarm will be raised. A PublisherHeartbeat attribute 530 stores a value corresponding to the number of seconds an engine object will wait for a heartbeat message from another engine object before it assumes the engine has failed. A Process ID 532 identifies a unique identification assigned to an engine process.

An engine object also contains a set of command attributes associated with managing application objects. A CreateAutomationObject attribute 534 is a command attribute for creating an application object. A DeleteAutomationObject attribute 536 is a command attribute for deleting an application object. A StartHostedObjects attribute 538 is a command attribute for starting hosted application objects.

Turning to FIG. 6, a set of attributes is summarized that are contained within a scheduler primitive and are unique to a scheduler object. Each scheduler object includes internal and external name attributes 600 and 602. A StatsAvgPeriod 604 stores a value representing the averaging period for the scheduler acquiring statistics stored within the attributes described herein below. A CheckpointPeriodAvg attribute 606 identifies the current average of times between checkpoints during the current averaging period. An ExecutionTimeAvg attribute 608 stores a value representing the amount of time to execute all the objects per scan cycle. A HousekeepingTimeAvg attribute 610 stores a value corresponding to the average time per cycle to complete housekeeping operations. A TimeldleAvg attribute 612 stores a value representing the average idle time per period. A TimeldleMax attribute 614 stores a value representing the maximum idle time recorded. A TimeldleMin attribute 616 stores a value representing the minimum idle time recorded. An InputMsgSizeAvg attribute 618 stores an average input message size over the averaging period. An InputMsgsProcessedAvg attribute 620 stores a value representing the total volume of messages processed, in bytes, per scan cycle during the averaging period. An InputMsgsQueuedAvg attribute 622 stores the average number of messages queued per scan cycle during the averaging period. An InputMsgsQueuedMax attribute 624 stores the maximum average stored in attribute 622 since the last time the statistics attributes were reset.

An InputQueueSizeMaxAllowed attribute 626 stores the maximum allowed size of queued messages in a network message exchange input queue. An InputQueueSizeAvg attribute 628 stores an average size of the input queue in bytes during the averaging period. An InputQueueSizeMax attribute 630 stores the maximum average stored in attribute 628 since the last time the statistical attributes were reset.

A TimeInputAvg attribute 632 stores a value representing the average time required, during the current period, to process an input message. An ObjectCnt attribute 634 stores a count value corresponding to the current number of application objects currently being handled by a scheduler object. An ObjectsOffScanCnt attribute 636 indicates the number of application objects that are currently off-scan. A TimeOutputAvg attribute 638 stores an average amount of time required to process output message during a cycle. A StatsReset attribute 640 indicates an request to reset the statistical attributes described for the scheduler that are not regularly reset (e.g., maximum values). A ScanCyclesCnt attribute 642 stores a value indicating the number of cycles since a last resetting of the attributes through the StatsReset attribute 640. A ScanOverrunsCnt attribute 644 indicates the number of times, since a last StatsReset, that a scan cycle ended without completing a scan of all objects. A ScanOverrunsConsecutiveCount 646 stores a current number of consecutive cycles where an overrun occurs. A ScanOverrunHighLimit attribute 648 stores a high alarm limit for consecutive overruns to trigger an alarm stored in a ScanOverrunCondition attribute 650. A ScanPeriod 652 stores a value representing the cycle time for the scheduler.

It is noted that the attributes associated with particular object types are not limited to the particular object primitive types. In fact, all object types comprise at least two of the above-described primitives. All object types utilize the common object primitive. In addition, a platform object includes the attributes of the scheduler, engine and platform primitives described above. An engine object includes the attributes of the scheduler, and the engine primitives.

Turning to FIG. 7, a set of primitives is associated with an application object. Each type of application object has its own set of primitives. The primitives contain the business specific logic and the set of attributes that are unique to the function of the primitives. These primitives can be reused across different application object types.

An exemplary set of primitives associated with an analog device application object is depicted in FIG. 7. A primitive 700 labeled AnalogDevice attributes contains a set of analog device specific attributes in which clients would be interested. A PV.Input 701 is a primitive that reads, via a device integration object (e.g., PLC1), the data from a field device. A PV.Output 702 is a primitive that writes, via a device integration object, data to the field. A Scaling 703 is a primitive that performs linear or square root scaling of the data read from the input primitive (PV.Input 701). A LevelAlarms 704 is a primitive that generates alarms if a process variable in the AnalogDevice primitive 700 exceeds or is below configured values. A PV.RoC 705 is a primitive that generates alarms if a PV increases or decreases faster than a preset limit. A SP 706 is a primitive that clients write to when they want to modify the value to which the PV.Output 702 writes. A PVDev 707 is a primitive that is used to generate an alarm if a value read in from a field device (via primitive 701) deviates from a value written to the field device (via primitive 702) by a certain amount. A CtrlTrack 708 is a primitive that is used to enable the setpoint and PV primitives to track changes driven from the external device. Having described the basic building blocks of an supervisory process control and manufacturing information application embodying the present invention, attention is directed to a set of sequence diagrams that summarize methods employed to carry out such an application. Turning to FIG. 8, a sequence diagram depicts steps for the starting and stopping an application embodying a hierarchical hosting relationship. During stage 800, a bootstrap process on a computer system issues a start platform request to a loaded platform object. In response, during step 802 the platform process issues a call to the bootstrap interface requesting the bootstrap to start all the application engines hosted by the platform object. During stage 804, the bootstrap process creates an application engine object having the attributes discussed hereinabove.

During stage 806, the application engine process starts all of its hosted application objects. The application engine also registers the hosted application objects with a scheduler process during stage 808. Registering an application object adds that application object to the set of application objects that the scheduler scans during each scan cycle. At stage 810, the application engine issues a command to the scheduler to begin executing/scanning the started and registered application objects. Thereafter, at stage 812 the scheduler executes the registered application objects. Such execution is performed periodically during each scan cycle.

The scheduler continues to periodically scan the registered application objects in accordance with a supervisory process control and manufacturing information system application until receiving a shutdown command. In particular, the bootstrap process, during stage 814, issues a shutdown command to the platform process in response to an operating system shutdown command. During stage 816, the platform process returns a stop engine command to the bootstrap to commence shutting down all engines hosted by the platform process. In response, during stage 818 the bootstrap issues a request to the application engine to stop. The bootstrap will wait for the application engine to stop. However, after a period, if the application engine has not stopped, the bootstrap will request the operating system to shut down the application engine process.

Under normal operating conditions, during stage 820 the application engine issues a command to the scheduler to un-register the engine's hosted application objects. Furthermore, in an embodiment of the invention, the engine requests to its hosted application objects to shut down. However, in alternative embodiments of the invention the shutdown request is issued by the scheduler in response to the un-register command.

It is noted that in the above-described exemplary embodiment, the engine objects and platform objects communicate with the bootstrap process and handle aspects of the supervisory process control and manufacturing information application relating to physical computing device configurations upon which the application executes. However, the application objects themselves only communicate with the engine and scheduler according to a platform-independent interface. The one or more engine objects hosting the application objects insulate the application objects from characteristics of the computer systems upon which the application objects execute. Thus, the application objects execute independently of the physical computing device configurations. The application objects, though constrained to execute on a same engine with other application objects designated within a same area, are not constrained by any requirement to execute upon a particular one of multiple capable engines and/or platforms within a system. Thus, moving an area comprising a set of application objects is performed with minimal interruption to the execution of other application objects running on the affected engines.

Turning to FIG. 9, a sequence diagram illustrates the operational independence of an application object with regard to its engine object host, and the ability to re-deploy an application object upon another host engine. Beginning at stage 900, an engine A issues a start command to a scheduler A to commence periodic execution/scanning of an application object A. During stage 902, the scheduler A periodically activates the application object A to perform its business logic in association with an application comprising multiple application objects.

Later, an application engineer decides to migrate the application object A to an engine B on a different computer platform. One reason to make such a change is to reduce computational load on a computer device as a system grows. The user issues a request to the engine A to remove application object A during stage 904. In response, during stage 906 the engine A issues a request to the scheduler A to stop scanning the application object A. During stage 908, the engine A issues a command to the application object A to shut down. The operation of the engine A and scheduler A is otherwise unaffected by the removal of application object A.

In an embodiment of the invention, the application is spread across multiple computing devices, and each computing device is equipped with the platform, engine and scheduler objects of the application hierarchy that facilitate executing application objects. The replication of lower-level hosting functionality across multiple hardware platforms provides a degree of platform independence that enables relocating an application object without affecting the operation of the application. Thus, during stage 910 the user adds application object A to engine B on a different computer. During stage 912, the engine B initializes the newly added application object A. The initialization stage 912 includes, for example, any custom initialization performed by an application object before starting the application object (e.g., initialization of class variables, caching interfaces used by the application object, etc.). At stage 914, the engine B issues a start command to the application object A. At this point, the object assumes all of its primitives have been initialized and it can perform any initial calculations based on the attributes maintained in these primitives. Engine B registers the executing application object A with a scheduler B on the new computing platform during stage 916. Thereafter, at stage 918 the scheduler B periodically prompts the application object A to execute its business logic. The results of executing application object A are rendered both locally and over a network connecting the engines. Thus, re-locating application object A to engine B does not affect data access concerning application object A.

Inter-Object Communications Via Message Exchange

In an embodiment of the present invention, the application objects reference other objects by logical name rather than physical address. Thus, communications between application objects within a same application, as far as the application objects are concerned, are insulated from the underlying physical configuration of a network containing the application object. A component of the application, referred to as message exchange, embedded within the platform and engine objects enables application objects to retrieve (get) and send (set) data from/to other objects located anywhere within a network executing the distributed application. Message exchange is a peer-to-peer communication infrastructure that enables specifying a target by logical name rather than physical network address. The application objects are thus permitted to carry out communications without regard to the physical location of an intended recipient of a data request. This also enables the application object layer of an application to be developed without regard to where the application objects are ultimately deployed. In an embodiment of the invention, the message exchange is divided between a local message exchange (LMX) carried out by an application engine and a network message exchange (NMX) carried out by a platform to enable named requests to be communicated between computing devices connected over a network for carrying out a distributed application. In yet another embodiment of the invention, the LMX and NMX functionality is carried out by the engines. This arrangement avoids extra, inter-process communications required in the event that the platform object carries out NMX.

The LMX incorporated into the engine objects (e.g., application engine objects) provides services enabling application objects to access data maintained as attributes on other objects. When using LMX services to access target data, application objects specify a string representing a piece of data associated with an object (e.g., an attribute specified in the form of “ObjectB.AttributeA”). With this string, LMX locates the data associated with the object (potentially requesting NMX services provided by the platform to access a target object located on another computing device in a network). LMX returns the data, associated with the object, to the application object that requested the data. In addition, the message exchange guarantees certification of message delivery. Therefore, when application objects send messages to other application objects they receive confirmation that the target of the message received or did not receive the message.

The LMX of the application engine includes, by way of example, a set of interfaces. The set of interfaces comprises: IMxSupervisoryConnection and IMxUserConnection. The IMxSupervisoryConnection interface defines methods used by application objects to access information from physical devices in a plant. The methods used on this interface comprise: SupervisoryRegisterReference, SupervisoryGetAttribute, and SupervisorySetAttribute. The SupervisoryRegisterReference method is called by application objects to inform message exchange that a request to access a value of an attribute is forthcoming. The SupervisorySetAttribute method is used by application objects to direct message exchange to modify the value of the attribute specified in a previous SupervisoryRegisterReference call. The SupervisoryGetAttribute method is used by application objects to direct message exchange to retrieve the value of the attribute specified in a previous SupervisoryRegisterReference call.

The IMxUserConnection interface defines methods used by applications to visualize data retrieved from physical devices in a plant. The methods used on this interface comprise: UserRegisterReference, UserGetAttribute, and UserSetAttribute. These methods are very similar to the methods of the IMxSupervisoryConnection interface described hereinabove. One difference is that the methods of the IMxUserConnection interface methods cater to user interface clients by allowing data updates via a callback mechanism instead of a polled mechanism utilized by the IMxSupervisoryConnection.

A set of structures is utilized to carry out the functionality of the message exchange. An MxReference structure is a MICROSOFT Component Object Model (COM) object that implements an interface IMxReference, identifies an attribute of an object whose value is to be accessed by application objects, and is passed into the methods SupervisoryRegisterReference, and UserRegisterReference. The MxReferenceHandle (an integer value) is used by message exchange to provide application objects a location-transparent means of retrieving a value referred to by an MxReference. The MxReferenceHandle is returned to application objects by the message exchange on successful completion of a SupervisoryRegisterReference or UserRegisterReference call. The MxReferenceHandle is passed in, by application objects, to method calls for getting and setting attributes such as: UserSetAttribute, UserGetAttribute, SupervisorySetAttribute and SupervisoryGetAttribute.

An MxHandle structure identifies a property of an object's attribute. The MxHandle identifies a platform and an engine to which the object belongs. The MxHandle comprises two structures: an MxAutomationObjectHandle and an MxAttributeHandle. The MxAutomationObjectHandle is the data structure used to represent the location of the object within the overall system. The MxAttributeHandle data structure is used to identify the property of an attribute within the object. The MxAttributeHandle structure is used, internally, by message exchange to quickly locate an attribute of an object.

The MxAutomationObjectHandle data structure includes five fields: galaxy, platform, engine, object, and signature. The galaxy field identifies the general system to which the referenced object belongs. A platform field identifies the platform object with which the referenced object is associated. An engine field identifies the object's engine. An object field identifies an object. A signature field stores a value derived from the object's name and prevents configuration mismatches that can occur when an object is relocated.

The MxAttributeHandle data structure includes seven fields: primitiveID, attributeID, propertyID, index1, index2, index3 and signature. The primitiveID field identifies a primitive within an automation object. A primitive is a helper object that performs a specific operation in, for example, an application object. The attributeID identifies a particular attribute within an identified primitive. A propertyID identifies a property of an attribute. Index fields 1, 2 and 3 provide indexes into up to a three-dimensional array. A signature field stores a checksum value derived from the content of the MxAttributeHandle to prevent configuration mismatches.

It is noted that the message exchange, in an embodiment of the present invention, includes additional data structures and interfaces. Such additional interfaces and structures will be known to those skilled in the art. It is further noted that the present invention is not limited to systems that utilize message exchange to provide a hardware/deployment independent messaging service for inter-object communications for a set of application objects within a supervisory process control and manufacturing information application.

Multiple Views/Late Binding of a Model to a Deployment

Another aspect of the proposed application architecture is the specification of associations within objects. The associations, discussed herein below, enable a configuration component, referred to herein as the Integrated Development Environment (IDE) to filter and display a set of related objects in a variety of views including at least a (logical) model view and a (physical computing) deployment view. The IDE, through its displayed views of an application configuration, enables a user to design and deploy an application in a computer network comprising multiple computing devices.

The application configurations are stored as “packages” within the configuration database 124. A package framework subsystem provides an interface enabling the IDE to store and retrieve the objects of the packages. The package framework employs a relational database to store package data and knowledge regarding the objects' associations/relationships with other objects. The IDE queries the package framework to deliver a list of objects based on a designated association with regard to an object. For example, the IDE can request the package framework to retrieve from a package the objects hosted by a named engine.

A developer builds the aforementioned associations (or “relationships”) between objects via the IDE and package manager. Such associations include, by way of example, the following pre-defined assignment relationships: host, area, container, engine and platform. Each of these relationships is discussed herein below.

A host relationship is used at runtime to indicate where an object executes. Furthermore, an object may not be deployed unless its host is deployed. An application object is hosted by an area object, an area object is hosted by an engine object, and an engine object is hosted by a platform object. An area relationship establishes a logical grouping of objects and provides a means for collecting events and alarms raised by objects grouped under the area. A container relationship specifies a loose coupling between two objects and is only meaningful in the context of the application logic. Example: a Valve object contained inside of a Tank object. Contained objects are allowed to acquire hierarchical names within the context of the objects' container. By way of example, a valve that acts as an inlet is assigned the alias “inlet” and receives the hierarchical name of “Tank.Inlet.” An object's engine is the actual engine that executes the object. An object's platform is the one and only platform object running on a computer device upon which the object is deployed. An object may have all five of these relationships, but only one object may be associated to any one of these relationships. For example, an application object can be assigned to one and only one area.

A model view depicts the application in terms of logical associations between plant/process equipment within a controlled plant process—e.g., a representation of a physical plant layout. A deployment view depicts the physical computer devices and assignment of instantiated objects identified in the model view to the computer devices and engines executing upon the computer devices. A derivation view depicts the sources (inherited property relationships from base template to instance) of objects instantiated from templates to carry out the functionality of the model view elements.

FIG. 1 shows, by way of example, an application physically deployed to two application server computers 100 and 102. Alternatively, an application is presented to users by visually depicting the role of application objects in carrying out supervisory process control and/or extracting manufacturing information according to the application. Turning now to FIG. 10 a plant process application is depicted, in a plant model, according to the roles of application objects in the plant process. This illustrative example is scaled down for purposes of illustratively depicting an exemplary embodiment of the invention. As those skilled in the art will readily appreciate, the present invention is applicable to a wide variety of industrial/plant monitoring/control applications that are far more complex than this example.

A hopper H1 1000 having a controlled outlet valve delivers raw product to a conveyor C1 1002 that is controllable to travel left, right, or be disabled. The raw product is dumped by the conveyor C1 1002 into a mixer M1 1004 and a mixer M2 1006. The raw product is allowed to pass into the mixers by opening valve V1 1012 and V2 1014 of mixer M1 1004 and mixer M2 1006, respectively. The mixer M1 1004 and mixer M2 1006 include a controllable agitator A1 1008 and A2 1010 respectively. The mixed product drops into hoppers H2 1016 and H3 1018. The hoppers H2 1016 and H3 1018 are selectively opened to allow the mixed product to fall upon a conveyor C2 1020 that either travels right or is disabled. When enabled, the conveyer C2 1020 drops the mixed product onto an elevator E1 1022. The elevator E1 1022 deposits the mixed product onto a conveyer C3 1024 that travels right. The conveyor C3 1024 deposits the material onto a distribution conveyor C4 1026 that is capable of traveling both left and right thereby distributing the mixed product between a first bi-state door D1 1028 and a second bi-state door D2 1030. The door D1 1028 is controllable to direct finished product into either bin B1 1032 or B2 1034. The door D2 1030 is controllable to direct finished product into either bin B3 1036 or bin B4 1038.

While the above-described process line depicted in FIG. 10 is simple, and thus relatively easy to follow, in most cases processes are very complex and include hundreds and even thousands of distinct, sensors and controlled components. In such instances, the application objects corresponding to the sensors and controlled components are logically grouped within areas. The logical grouping of application objects is exploited during runtime to provide a uniform treatment of particular application objects for alarm and event management. For example, all alarms in a particular area can be disabled by a single attribute designation within the area object. The compatibility of the host area and hosted objects is determined by checking the “required host features” of the hosted object and the “supported features” specified by the hosting area object. These object attributes are established when the objects are built. If the “required host features” are met by the “supported features,” then the host assignment is completed by assigning appropriate values to hosted objects. An object is placed within an area by designating the area name in the area attribute 328 of the common primitive of an application or area object.

Areas themselves can be grouped within other areas in a hierarchical arrangement. Assigning an area to another “host” area is accomplished, by way of example, by designating the name of the host area in the area attribute 328 of the hosted area object. The relationship between areas and sub-areas are not constrained to execute on a same engine. Thus, sub-areas within an area can be assigned to different application engines when the application objects of a supervisory process control and manufacturing information application are deployed within a system comprising multiple platform objects (corresponding to multiple computer devices) and engine objects. However, in an embodiment of the invention, application objects specified within a sub-area are restricted to deployment on a same application engine. This restriction ensures that processing of all application objects in an area occurs without inter-node communication delays.

Area objects, by way of example, include the following attributes that facilitate the above-described functionality: alarm information, disable all alarms, disable the display of all alarms, sub-area list.

Turning to FIG. 11, logical grouping of related process components of FIG. 10 into areas is demonstrated. The revised process illustration depicts the system as a series of areas comprising logically grouped controlled process components. A raw material store area 1100 includes the hopper H1 1000. A production area 1102 includes the conveyor C1 1002, a line1 area 1104 including the mixer M1 1004, valve V1 1012, and hopper H2 1016, and a line2 area 1106 including the mixer M2 1006, valve V2 1014, and hopper H3 1018. A distribution area 1108 includes the conveyor C2 1020, the elevator E1 1022, the conveyer C3 1024, conveyor C4 1026, bi-state door D1 1028 and bi-state door D2 1030. A finished product store area 1110 includes bins B1 1032, B2 1034, B3 1036 and bin B4 1038. The set of sub-areas are grouped under a single process plant area 1120.

Having described an exemplary plant process and two alternative ways in which to view an application relating to the plant process (i.e., plant model and application object deployment views), a configuration utility interface is described that displays the application components according to these two alternative views. Turning briefly to FIG. 12, a partially completed model view user interface generated by a configuration utility depicts an area hierarchy represented in the form of a tree. The tree structure presents a high-level model view of the areas designated in a process plant depicted in FIG. 11. This model view is incomplete since it does not identify the application objects grouped within the identified areas and containment relationships for application objects.

With reference to the exemplary tree structure, a process plant node 1200 corresponding to the process plant area 1120 is designated at the highest level of the hierarchical area representation. A set of secondary nodes, corresponding to sub-areas grouped within the process plant area 1120, branch from the process plant node 1200. RawMaterialStore node 1202, Production node 1204, Distribution node 1206 and FinishedProductStore node 1208 correspond to the raw material store area 1100, the production area 1102, a distribution area 1108 and a finished product store area 1110 respectively. A line 1 node 1210 and a line 2 node 1212 branching from Production node 1204 correspond to the line1 area 1104 and line2 area 1106 grouped within the production area 1102 in FIG. 11. This view enables a technician to quickly identify and specify logical groupings for defining policies governing application objects such as alarming behaviors, etc.

Before describing an expanded version of the model view of FIG. 12 identifying application objects and compounds within the identified areas, derivation of objects from templates is discussed. Each of the components identified in FIG. 10 corresponds to an application object. In an embodiment of the invention, application objects are instantiated from object templates. A derivation view represents all the types of templates from which application objects specified by a current model for an application are derived.

The set of candidate templates from which application objects are derived is extensible. Users are provided toolkits including base templates and editors to define customized new templates from which a user builds application objects. Examples of base templates (where $ denotes a template) are: $DiscreteDevice—a state machine that is configurable to create an application object representing the main conveyors and valves depicted in FIG. 10, and $UserDefined—a simple object template that contains only the common primitive, and from which the user builds extensions within the configuration environment by adding scripts and attributes to model the application objects corresponding to the bins and hoppers.

Turning to FIG. 13, an exemplary derivation view rendered by a derivation view generated is illustratively depicted. With reference to FIG. 13, in the case of the example set forth in FIG. 10, the user derives from a $DiscreteDevice base template a $Valve, a $SliceGate, a $Agitator, and a $Conveyor custom application object template type. Under the $Conveyor template, the user further defines a $SingleDirectionConveyor, a $BiDirectionalConveyor, and an $Elevator template type. Under a $UserDefined base template the user derived a $Vessel application object template. The $Vessel template is further refined to derive a $Hopper and a $Bin application object. With reference to FIG. 13, the base templates occupy the highest levels of the hierarchical derivation tree that is rendered by a configuration view generator based upon a user's designation of particular templates. Object templates derived from the base templates are identified by branches leading from the base template nodes. As depicted in FIG. 13, it is possible to derive objects from other derived objects. In such cases, the children inherit the designated characteristics of their parent templates. The derivation relationship between a child and its parent template is registered in the derived from attribute 314 of the template object.

Application object containment (specified in container attribute 330 of an application object), and the creation of compound object templates from a set of previously defined object templates is another aspect of the template architecture disclosed herein. In an embodiment of the invention, containment is limited to same object types. Thus, area objects can only contain area objects and application objects can only contain other application objects. Objects containing other objects are referred to herein as “compounds.” Objects that exist solely to contain other objects are referred to as “composites.”

Turning briefly to FIGS. 14 a and 14 b, an example is provided of a compound application object template—in this case a $MixerVessel compound object template that includes a valve object that is assigned the tag name “inlet”, an agitator that continues to carry the tag name of “agitator,” and a mixer that has been assigned the tag name “vessel.” The contained name attribute 310 of the templates corresponding to each of these three contained objects. The full hierarchical tag name (e.g., MixerVessel.Inlet) is stored in the hierarchical name attribute 318 for each of the three contained objects. The container attribute 330 for each contained object is assigned the string “MixerVessel.” FIG. 14 a schematically depicts a portion of the process plant depicted in FIG. 10 that contains a mixer vessel arrangement. A model view of the compound template showing the containment relationship between the $MixerVessel application object template and its contained (renamed) application objects is depicted in FIG. 14 b. In an embodiment of the invention, when instantiated within an actual application, all application objects contained within a compound application object designate a same host in attribute 338 (and by requirement a same area in attribute 328. This containment hierarchy, applicable to other objects as well (subject to any deployment restrictions), assists system developers in developing systems by supporting the creation of logical building blocks (comprising many smaller application objects) from which applications can be built.

A “contain” function supported by the IDE, in an embodiment of the present invention, facilitates establishing containment relationships between objects via a graphical user interface “drag and drop” operation. To establish a containment relationship between a source and target (container) application object, a developer selects the source application object displayed on a user interface, drags the source application object on top of the target (container) object, and then drops the source application object on the target application object. After the IDE confirms the compatibility between the two objects (i.e., they are both application objects), the IDE (through the package manager utility) sets the host, area and container attributes in the source object. In particular, the area attribute 328 is set to the target object's area, the host attribute 338 is set to the target's host, and the container attribute 330 is set to the target object's name. At this point the contained name attribute 310 and the hierarchical name attribute 318 of the source are also filled in with names provided by the developer.

Returning to FIG. 13, the $MixerVessel compound application object template is assigned a branch under the $UserDefined base template node and specifies the contained relationships between the application object template elements of the compound. Furthermore, a $MixerVessel.Inlet template derived from $Valve is placed under the $Valve template node. A $MixerVessel.Vessel template derived from $Vessel is placed under the $Valve template node. A $MixerVessel.Agitator template derived from $Agitator is placed under the $Agitator template node. The containment relationship is registered by specifying the $MixerVessel template object in the container attribute 330 in each of the compound elements. The containment relationship is indicated in the derivation view tree of FIG. 13 by a “$MixerVessel” preamble in the $MixerVessel.Inlet, $MixerVessel.Agitator, and $MixerVessel.Vessel object template representations within the derivation view tree.

Attribute locking and its effect upon change propagation in templates are yet other aspects of the derivation architecture of the exemplary configuration utilities disclosed herein. The derivation architecture enables information within an object template to be propagated to derived objects or alternatively a default value is specified for a derived template that can be overridden by a developer. In an embodiment of the invention, propagation is affected automatically by storing a reference to a parent's copy of a locked attribute.

An attribute in a template or instance can be unlocked, locked in parent, or locked in me. Both templates and instances can have unlocked attributes. An unlocked attribute is read-write, and the object has its own copy of the attribute value—i.e., it is not shared by derived objects. A template, but not an instance can have a locked in me attribute status. In the case of a locked in me attribute, the value is read-write. Derived objects do not get their own copy of the attribute value, but instead share the locked value by reference to an ancestor where the attribute is locked. The status of the attribute in the children of a locked in me attribute is “locked in parent.” Thus, changes to the value of a locked in me template attribute propagate to all children. Both templates and instances can have a locked in parent attribute. A locked in parent attribute is read-only.

The interface for getting and setting a locked status of an attribute is exposed to configuration clients. The client obtains a reference to the attribute and sets its locked status. Whether a change to an attribute is permitted and/or propagated to derived children is based upon whether a particular attribute in a template is locked. Locking an attribute has two consequences. First, a locked in parent attribute cannot be modified in a derived template or instance. Second, a locked in me attribute in a template can be changed, and the change is cascaded down through all templates and instances derived from the template containing the locked attribute. On the other hand, if an attribute is not locked, then the attribute specifies a default value that can be overridden in a derived template. Furthermore, if the value of a non-locked attribute is changed, then the change is not cascaded to derived templates.

After establishing a set of templates that are to be used for the application objects identified in FIG. 10, the application object instances are created from the templates according to the proposed supervisory process control and manufacturing information application. Using the templates defined in FIG. 13 and the exemplary process plant depicted in FIG. 10 the following application objects are rendered:

-   -   $MixerVessel is used for Mixer M1 and M2;     -   $Hopper is used for Hopper H1, H2 and H2;     -   $SingleDirectionConveyor is used for conveyors C2 and C3;     -   $BiDirectionalConveyor is used for conveyors C1 and C4;     -   $SlideGate is used for Door D1 and D2; and     -   $Bin is used for Bins B1, B2, B3 and B4

Turning to FIG. 15, a hardware derivation view depicts the sources of engine and platform objects from object templates. Such a view is beneficial when deciding where to distribute or re-locate areas that have particular engine and/or platform requirements. Node 1500 corresponds to a WINDOWS operating system-based platform template. A set of platform instances, corresponding to platform objects derived from the WINDOWS operating system-based platform template, branch from node 1500 and correspond to each of the personal computers identified in FIG. 1. Node 1510 corresponds to an application engine template. A set of application engine instances, derived from the application engine template, branch from node 1510 and correspond to the application engines depicted in FIG. 1. Node 1520 corresponds to a view engine template. A set of view engine instances branch from node 1520 and correspond to the view engines depicted in FIG. 1. Node 1530 corresponds to a PLCNetwork device integration object template. A set of instances branching from node 1530 correspond to device integration objects identified in FIG. 1 that support configuring the OPC servers 116 and 118. Finally, node 1540 corresponds to a PLCObject device integration object template. A set of instances branching from node 1540 corresponds to device integration objects identified in FIG. 1.

FIG. 16 represents a model view of the process application depicted in FIGS. 10 and 11. The model view displays area hosting and containment relationships specified by objects (including application objects and areas). The model view identifies the objects that are logically grouped together for purposes of describing the plant layout. The model view enables a user to quickly designate objects that will be treated uniformly under a particular policy (e.g., alarming, etc.). The model view includes, by way of example, nodes corresponding to the areas designated in FIG. 11 and depicted in the area tree structure of FIG. 12. The leaves of the tree 1600 identify the application objects and their assignments to the identified areas. Furthermore, the model view tree depicts compound containers such as a set of compound container objects MV1 and MV2 instantiated from the $MixerVessel compound template (discussed above with reference to FIG. 13).

The model view is rendered by a model view generator based upon the area and container attributes of the objects specified under a particular application. In an embodiment of the invention, the compatibility of an area/container with a grouped/contained object is determined when a user seeks to create the association. This compatibility is determined by comparing the support features of the parent object to the needs of the grouped/contained child object. Furthermore, in an embodiment of the invention all objects within a container are required to designate a same area.

Areas can be hierarchical. Thus, an area can include an area, and a parent area collects alarm statistics for all objects in its sub-areas. In a model view hierarchical tree structure depicted in FIG. 16, starting at the highest level of the tree structure, if no area is designated for an area object, then the area object (e.g., ProcessPlant 1602) is connected directly to the root node (the highest level of the tree). At a next level, sub-areas of the ProcessPlant 1602 (i.e., RawMaterialStore 1604, Production 1606, Distribution 1608 and FinishedProductStore 1610) are connected as branches under the ProcessPlant 1602 node. In the exemplary application model tree 1600, the branches from the sub-areas contain application objects (i.e., hopper H1, conveyors C1-C4, doors D1-D2, elevator E1, and bins B1-B4), and additional sub-areas (i.e., Line1 and Line 2 in the Production 1606 sub-area). The Line1 and Line2 sub-areas both include compounds (i.e., mixer vessels MV1 and MV2). The leaves of the compounds MV1 and MV2 identify the objects contained by the compound objects. In the particular example, the MixerVessel compound MV1 includes an agitator A1, a vessel M1 and an inlet valve V1. The MixerVessel compound MV2 includes an agitator A2, a vessel M1 and an inlet valve V1.

FIG. 17 represents an exemplary deployment view of the application model's areas to the hardware and platform depicted in FIG. 1. The deployment view visually depicts where the various objects of an application execute. A deployment view is therefore rendered based upon the hosting (attribute 338) and the containment (attribute 330) relationships designated by objects. A child area object is not constrained to execute upon the same application engine as a specified parent area (in attribute 328), and the area relationships designated by objects are not applied when rendering the deployment view. ApplicationObjects are Hosted (attribute 338) by their area, therefore the deployment view shows the ApplicationObject relationship to its area. Thus, the deployment view (and the actual deployment of nested area objects) does not reflect alarm/event concentration and propagation associated with the hierarchical area model relationships designated between area objects.

The application objects are not displayed in FIG. 17. However, a deployment view generator arranges the application objects under appropriate areas based upon the host/container designations within those objects. In an embodiment of the invention, an application object's designated host and area are, by requirement, the same. Therefore, all application objects referencing an area object are executed upon a same engine object identified in the host attribute 338 of the area object. This requirement ensures that alarms and data maintained for application objects under a particular area are maintained locally on a same computer device. If an application object specifies a container (compound application object) in attribute 330, then the named container overrides the named area host when generating a deployment view tree (i.e., an application object within a compound (container) is placed under its designated compound name). However, in an embodiment of the invention all application objects contained within a compound are constrained to execute upon a same host (i.e., all contained application objects acquire the compound/container's designated area).

The deployment view set forth in FIG. 17 is especially appropriately classified as exemplary since the areas and their associated objects are capable of running on any suitable platform/application engine combination. The multi-layered platform/engine/area/application object hosting arrangement renders the various areas (and their associated application objects) capable of installation at any suitable hosting engine branch in the graphical representation of the deployment of application components depicted in FIG. 17. The highest level of the deployment tree hierarchy identifies a set of platforms corresponding to the personal computers depicted in FIG. 1. The set of platforms represented by nodes include: a RawMaterialPC node 1700, a Production PC node 1702, a FinishedProductPC node 1704, a ConfigurationPC node 1706, an ApplicationServer1PC node 1708, and an ApplicationServer2PC node 1710.

A set of engines is deployed to the platform hosts. The set of deployed engine object nodes corresponding to engine objects hosted by the indicated platform objects includes: a RawMaterialView engine node 1712, a ProductionView engine node 1714, a FinishedProductView engine node 1716, an AppEngine1 node 1718, and an AppEngine2 node 1720.

The engines host device integration and area groupings of application objects that are represented in the deployment view as nodes. The set of device integration object nodes corresponding to deployed device integration objects includes PLC1Ethernet node 1722 and PLC1 node 1724, and PLC2Ethernet node 1726 and PLC2 node 1728. The set of area object nodes corresponding to deployed areas comprising groups of application objects and/or other areas includes a ProcessPlant node 1730, a RawMaterialStore node 1732, a Production node 1734, a Line1 node 1736, a Line2 node 1738, a Distribution node 1740 and a FinishedProductStore node 1742. The branches connecting the above-identified area nodes to their associated engines corresponds to the engines designated in the host attribute 338 in the area objects and their associated application objects that, for the sake of avoiding undue clutter, are omitted from the deployment view set forth in FIG. 17.

A Security Architecture for a Platform Executing Supervisory Process Control Applications

Another aspect of this invention is a security model for the supervisory control and manufacturing information system. The security model is designed to prevent users of the information system from performing unauthorized activities. This security model is independent of the logical or physical configuration of the application and thus a supervisory process control and manufacturing information system architect need not bind security to a particular application component until the application modules have been fully developed. The late binding of security to particular components of a system enables a developer to determine the authorization of a particular system based upon the application objects, and the developer binds security based upon the functionality of the application objects deployed upon particular computing nodes.

The security model of the present invention is contained within a supervisory process control and manufacturing information system comprising a set of user roles corresponding to different types of users within the information system, a set of security groups defining a set of security permissions with regard to a set of objects, wherein each security group includes an access definition relating the security permissions to at least one of the set of user roles, set of user accounts assigned to at least one of the defined roles thereby indirectly defining access rights with regard to the set of objects having restricted access within the system, wherein the security permissions are assigned at an object attribute level.

The security model provides users with the ability to define functional-based groups independent of the physical area model. Application objects can be applied to these functional-based groups. The security model further provides for designation of permissions at an object attribute level, thereby facilitating a high degree of granularity with regard to user access to object functionality. The security model also provides the user with the ability to define roles within the plant and define security levels for each role within the security groups. Users have the ability to create other users and associate these other users to roles. A user may have many roles, providing a very powerful and flexible abstraction of the user profiles from the physical plant model. The security model can be generated using a single logical environment that enables a user to define the security model. Particular devices and application objects reside within the security model that is abstracted from the physical area model to facilitate functional-based security.

Turning to FIG. 18, the security model 1800 is displayed. Operators, each with a User Profile 1902, that contains security-related information as well as other unique information about each used, inherit a set of user roles 1804 (e.g., Intake Operator or Dispatcher). The user roles attempt to generalize a users function and correspond to different types of users within the information system. The roles are granted permissions 1806 onto a number of security groups 1808. For example, if a user inherits a role with Tuning access permission to a Security Group, then the role will have write permission to all attributes with a security classification of Tuning (but no other attributes).

Roles are also granted the utility function-based permissions such as Deploy or Set Scan State. Thus, if a role of a Security Engineer has full permissions to modify the object model, the role has permissions to deploy as well. Based on the roles granted access to the Security Groups, the user is allowed to or refrained from writing to the attribute.

The information included within a user profile, 1912, as shown in FIG. 19, includes the user's logon information and a set of roles 1910 that the user assumes. Each role 1910 grants permissions 1908 to perform specific activities. When a user obtains and assumes multiple roles, the permissions attached to such a user increase accordingly. Operation permissions are granted to perform an activity on smaller groups of objects known as security groups 1906. These operation permissions relate to the normal activities or a deployed system and allow operators to open Windows, interact with deployed objects, etc. The roles 1910 for a user specify a unique set of operation permissions for each Security Group 1906. A security group is a set of automation objects and each automation object belongs to exactly one security group.

Runtime objects 1904 are deployed automation objects.

The Security Groups 1808 comprise Objects 1810. Each object comprises attributes, each of which has a security classification. The security classification 1914 of an attribute, as shown in FIG. 19, provides the ability to define the users that can write to the attributes of an object. The attributes 1902 are designed to be accessed by multiple users, however, to individually provide access and permission to each user would be very time-consuming and repetitive.

Operators interact with automation objects by accessing their attributes. Examples of security classifications within attributes are “FreeAccess”, “Operate”, “Secured Write”, “Verified Write”, “Tune” and “Configure”. Any user can write to a FreeAccess attribute to perform safety or time-critical tasks that could be hampered by an untimely logon request. Access to a FreeAccess attribute does not require any privileges.

Operators write to “Operate” attributes during normal operations. Examples of Operate attributes are Setpoint, Output and Control Mode for a PID Object. A user is required to logged into the application from which the write is taking place. A “Secured Write” attribute allows interaction with a highly secured object. Access to a “Secured Write” attribute requires re-authentication of identification credentials every time the operator wishes to write to the attribute. Operators write to a “Verified Write” attribute for interaction with a very highly secured object. Entrance to a “Verified Write” attribute is similar to that of a “Secured Write” attribute (i.e., requiring re-authentication of user credentials every time the operator wishes to write to the attribute), however, a “Verified Write” attribute requires a second user to authenticate.

Turning now to FIG. 20, a method for writing to an attribute is displayed. Initially, the user writes the changes to the attribute 2002. The message is validated 2004 and the target object checks the permissions 2006 of the user to determine if the user has permissions to write to this attribute. If the user is determined to have access to the SecurityGroup, the attribute is written 2008. If the user does not possess permissions to write to this attribute, a message is returned to the user 2010 indicating that an access failure has occurred and the attempted write is aborted 2012.

If, when the target object is checking permissions of the user, it is determined that the attribute has Secured Write or Verified Write classification requiring re-authentication of user credentials, a return message 2014 is displayed indicating that a secured/validated authentication is required. The Client Utility displays a message to the user to re-login 2016 and the login object is called 2018 to verify the current login. If the attribute is of the Secured Write classificiation 2020, the write is reattempted with the SecureWrite bit set 2022 and the message is delivered. 2024.

If the attribute is of the Verified Write classification, the client Utility prompts the user for the third party login information 2026. The login object is recalled to verify the third party login information 2028. If successful, the attribute is written 2030 and a message confirming the same 2024 is displayed. If either the third party login or the second login attempt by the original user fails, a message is displayed indicating the write failure 2032 and the write attempt is abandoned 2034.

Writing to a Tune attribute is considered a tune activity. Examples of tuning activities are adjusting alarm limits, adjust PID sensitivity, etc. Access to write Tune attributes requires the logged in user to have been given the “Tune” operational permission to the SecurityGroup to which the object belongs. Writing to a Configure attribute is considered a significant configuration change. Access to write a Configure attribute requires the requisite permission and further requires that the object is offscan.

Client utilities (e.g, IDE, SMC and View) generally requires their users to be authenticated to confirm the appropriate permissions. An authenticated user is granted the sum of all permissions within their assumed Roles. If security is enabled within the Galaxy (application configuration), the client utility logon dialog will be displayed. The system will provide a standard logon dialog that will provide the necessary calls to the LoginObject. It is contemplated, however, that the client utility can create a custom logon dialog that is specific to the needs of that client utility.

The Galaxy can be configured to support several authentication modes, including “None”, “Galaxy”, “OS User” and “OS Group”. A Galaxy authentication mode requires the user to logon to a system utility each time that a utility is initialized. Within the OS User authentication mode, the system will check whether the user previously authenticated by the OS has a matching User Profile. If a matching User Profile exists, the user is automatically logged on. If no matching profile can be located, the login dialog will be presented and they will be requested to Login, the entered credentials are then authenticated against the OS. Within an OS Group authentication mode, the system maps OS User groups to the Roles configured within the security model. The system will match the OS Groups of the current OS User to that of the roles within the Galaxy, upon finding a match it will authorize the user with all privileges granted to the matching roles. If none are found then it will ask the user to re-authenticate using a User ID and password or similar items. When a user is authenticated using the OS Group mode the UserProfile is automatically created by the system so that their personal preferences can still be stored within the Galaxy. All other attempted user logons are rejected and no system authentication is allowed. The various authentication modes are controlled by the Login Object.

Turning now to FIG. 21, the overall security model 2100 with a highlight on the user roles is displayed. As noted above, User Roles define all different types of users of the system from the perspective of security. Several examples of User Roles are control-engineer, system-technician, quality-manager, production-line-1-operator, shift-supevisor. Two generic user roles, UserRole-1 and UserRole-2, are shown in FIG. 21 as 2104 and 2106, respectively. The security model 2100 also includes Security Permissions defined for each user role. A plurality of types of security permissions are supported, for example, Integrated Developed Environment (IDE) Permissions, System Management Console (SMC) Permissions and Runtime Permissions.

IDE Permissions specify the operations 2108 that each user is allowed to perform using the IDE. Generally, IDE Permissions relate to configuration and deployment related tasks. Sample IDE permissions include importing new templates, creating/modifying or deleting user profiles or objects. SMC Permissions specify the type of system management functions 2110 the user can perform using the SMC. Typical SMC tasks are system maintenance and administration related. Example SMC permissions are tuning the network parameters, performing database back-ups and performing license administration. Runtime Permissions specify explicitly, for each Security Group, the runtime operations 2112 that each user is allowed to perform on Automation Objects belonging to that Security Group. Typical runtime tasks include monitoring and normal operations related tasks.

UserRole-1, as displayed in FIG. 21, have separate IDE Permissions, SMC Permissions and Runtime Permissions. The Runtime Permissions are separated into the different permissions associated with each security group (SecGrp).

The automation objects are organized so that Runtime permissions defined in the Security model can be appropriately applied. To accomplish this, each automation object is configured to be associated with one Security Group. This causes all runtime permissions defined for a security group to be applicable to all automation objects in that security group. Operations on the automation objects are performed by accessing their attributes. The runtime security permissions are based on the types of attributes a user may access. These attributes are discussed above in relation to FIG. 19.

At runtime, access to Object attributes and Windows is granted to or revoked from user. Access is based on an Access Key/Lock scheme. The user has the Access Key (i.e., the User Profile authentication information) and the Object attribute or Window has the Access Lock. The Access Key is the users operational permissions on the security group the object belongs to and the Access Lock is the SecurityClassification of the target attribute.

Turning to FIG. 22, depicting the method to configure the security model, the system engineer 2202, who has appropriate permissions to configure the security model, launches the IDE 2204. The system engineer 2202 also launches the Galaxy object editor, the security page and the security mode 2206. After creation of a new role which, by default, has no permissions initially assigned, the system engineer 2202 selects the new role 2208 and specifies the configuration functional permissions, for example Configuration permissions (IDE), system administration (SMC) and operation permissions 2208 desired for the role.

Illustrative embodiments of the present invention and certain variations thereof have been provided in the Figures and accompanying written description. The present invention is not intended to be limited to these embodiments. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that a new and useful method and application has been described for configuring and carrying out supervisory process control and manufacturing information applications including the security model for the target application. In view of the many possible environments to which the principles of this invention may be applied and the flexibility of designing and carrying out software-based systems, it should be recognized that the embodiments described herein are meant to be illustrative and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention. Those skilled in the art to which the present invention applies will appreciate that the illustrated embodiments can be modified in arrangement and detail without departing from the spirit of the invention. The present invention is intended to cover the disclosed embodiments as well as others falling within the scope and spirit of the invention to the fullest extent permitted in view of this disclosure and the inventions defined by the claims appended herein below. Therefore, the invention as described herein contemplates all such embodiments as may come within the scope of the following claims and equivalents thereof. 

1. A computer-executable method of enforcing security within a supervisory process control and manufacturing information system comprising: defining a set of user roles, stored on one or more memory devices, corresponding to different types of users within the system; defining a set of security groups, stored on one or more memory devices, comprising a set of security permissions with regard to a set of objects, said objects including a set of primitives and a set of attributes; assigning a set of user accounts, stored on one or more memory devices, to at least one of the defined roles thereby indirectly defining access rights with regard to the set of objects having restricted access within the system; assigning the security permissions at an object attribute level to permit writing to the attributes based on the defined access rights; and enforcing the security permissions to determine access to the set of objects; wherein the computer-executable method is executed within a layered architecture comprising application objects that model entities within a process control system, engine objects that host execution of the applications in a runtime environment, and platform objects corresponding to a physical computer system component for executing the engine objects and associated application objects and wherein the platform objects host at least one of the engine objects. 2-4. (canceled)
 5. The computer-executable method of claim 1, wherein the engine objects and platform objects address aspects of the application relating to physical computing device configurations upon which the application executes, and wherein the application objects execute independently of the physical computing device configurations.
 6. The computer-executable method of claim 1, wherein the application objects communicate on the same computing device through engine objects and communications across a network of computing devices are supported by the platform objects thereby insulating communications between application objects from the topology of a computer system within which the application objects execute.
 7. (canceled)
 8. The computer-executable method of claim 1, wherein a user profile for each user contains security-related information and at least one role.
 9. The computer-executable method of claim 8, wherein the at least one role grants permissions to the user to perform specific activities.
 10. The computer-executable method of claim 9, wherein the permissions are operation permissions defined for each one of a set of roles via the security groups.
 11. (canceled)
 12. The computer-executable method of claim 1, wherein the security groups comprise objects.
 13. The computer-executable method of claim 12, wherein the objects comprise at least one attribute, and wherein the at least one attribute specifies a security classification defining user role-based access to the attribute.
 14. (canceled)
 15. The computer-executable method of claim 13, wherein the security classification of each attribute defines the users that may write to the attribute. 16-17. (canceled)
 18. A system for enforcing security within a supervisory process control and manufacturing information system comprising: one or more memory devices storing software for enforcing security on the system; one or more processors connected to the one or more memory devices, said one or more processors executing the software for enforcing security on the system; a set of user roles, stored on the one or more memory devices, corresponding to different types of users within the system; a set of security groups, stored on the one or more memory devices, comprising a set of security permissions with regard to a set of objects, said objects including a set of primitives and a set of attributes; and a set of user accounts, stored on the one or more memory devices, assigned to at least one of the defined roles thereby indirectly defining access rights with regard to the set of objects having restricted access within the system; wherein the security permissions are assigned at an object attribute level to permit writing to the attributes based on the defined access rights; wherein the security permissions are enforced to determine access to the set of objects; wherein the system has a layered architecture comprising application objects that model entities within a process control system, engine objects that host execution of the applications in a runtime environment, and platform objects corresponding to a physical computer system component for executing the engine objects and associated application objects and wherein the platform objects host at least one of the engine objects.
 19. The system of claim 18, wherein the engine objects and platform objects address aspects of the application relating to the physical computing device configurations upon which the application executes, and wherein the application objects execute independently of the physical computing device configurations.
 20. The system of claim 18, wherein the application objects communicate on the same computing device through engine objects and communications across a network of computing devices are supported by the platform objects thereby insulating communications between application objects from the topology of a computer system within which the application objects execute.
 21. The system of claim 20, wherein a user profile for each user contains security-related information and at least one role.
 22. The system of claim 21, wherein the at least one role grants permissions to the user to perform specific activities.
 23. The system of claim 22, wherein the permissions are operation permissions defined for each one of a set of roles via the security groups.
 24. The system of claim 18, wherein the security groups comprise objects.
 25. The system of claim 24, wherein the objects comprise at least one attribute, and wherein the at least one attribute specifies a security classification defining user role-based access to the attribute.
 26. The system of claim 25, wherein the security classification of each attribute defines the users that may write to the attribute. 